ROCHESTER, N.Y. – The Penn State women's hockey team struggled to find a goal in its 3-0 loss to RIT Friday afternoon at the Gene Polisseni Center.
The Nittany Lions (10-13-8, 4-9-4 CHA) had 50 shots on goal, but they were all saved by RIT (12-14-5, 8-8-1 CHA) goaltender Terra Lanteigne to complete a shutout.
Cam Leonard made 15 stops for the Nittany Lions in her first career start.
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Period
- Scoring chances were tough to come by for both teams in the first period, with both squads only managing one prime scoring chance each.
- Penn State's best chance came with about 90 seconds left in the period when Abby Welch and Meike Meilleur sprung loose on a 2-on-1. Welch fired a first shot on RIT goaltender Terra Lanteigne before Meilleur had a chance on the rebound, but her shot hit the post and bounced to the corner.
- RIT's best scoring chance came after the puck was passed from behind the net to the slot area. Kate Rydland got her stick on the puck, but it deflected towards the Nittany Lions' net. Fortunately, Cam Leonard quickly gloved the puck on the ice to make the stop.
- Shots on goal in the period: Penn State 12, RIT 7
- Score after the period: Penn State 0, RIT 0
Second Period
- Penn State was awarded the first power play of the afternoon at 11:29 in the period which soon became a 5-on-3 after another RIT penalty. Penn State had four shots on goal for the span of both power plays but did not convert.
- RIT took the lead after Jade Mancini scored after a shot bounced off the back boards and directly to her in the left circle. Her sharp-angled shot gave the Tigers a 1-0 lead at 16:31.
- Penn State had another power play chance late in the period but Lanteigne was able to make the big saves to preserve RIT's advantage.
- Shots on goal in the period: Penn State 20, RIT 4
- Score after the period: RIT 1, Penn State 0
Third Period
- Penn State could not convert on another power play early in the third and RIT struck right back with its second goal at 4:33. Ellie Larson's wrist shot found just enough space to get through Leonard to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead.
- The Nittany Lions pulled Leonard with about three minutes left to try and cut into the RIT lead, but the Tigers scored on the empty net to go ahead by three at 18:10.
- Shots on goal in the period: Penn State 18, RIT 7
- Final Score: RIT 3, Penn State 0
GAME NOTES
- The Nittany Lions struggled on the power play, going 0-for-5 on the advantage. It was the second time this season the Nittany Lions did not commit a penalty (Oct. 13, 2018 at Union).
- Penn State hit triple digits in shot attempts with 144. 50 of those shots went on target while RIT blocked 37 others.
- Izzy Heminger had 17 total shot attempts and tied Katie Rankin with six shots on goal.
- Today's game marked the 100th career game for Brooke Madsen. She joins teammates Meike Meilleur, Kelsey Crow, Christi Vetter, Katie McMillan, Abby Welch, and Amanda McLeod as current Nittany Lions to reach the century mark this season.
NEXT UP
- The Nittany Lions get a rematch with the Tigers tomorrow, Feb. 23, starting at 1 p.m.